JP4366648B2 - Program reservation management system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a program reservation management system , and is suitable for application to, for example, recording reservation of a TV broadcast program using a mobile phone.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a broadcast program acquisition system that easily acquires a TV broadcast program that a user wants to watch, program information of a TV broadcast program searched based on a search keyword input by the user is obtained from a program information storage unit of a program information server. There is a program that is provided to a terminal and a TV broadcast program corresponding to the program information is reserved for recording by the information terminal (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-87769 A (page 9, FIG. 3)

  By the way, in the broadcast program acquisition system having such a configuration, it is possible to provide program information based on a search keyword to an information terminal that has accessed the program information server, but program information recommended by a specific user is provided. It has not been taken into consideration to provide a specific user individually and easily make a recording reservation.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and intends to propose a program reservation management system that can easily reserve a program desired by a user.

In order to solve this problem, in the program reservation management system of the present invention, a plurality of communication terminals, a plurality of recording devices connected to each other via a network, a plurality of communication terminals, and a plurality of communication terminals Using a table that is uniquely associated with a recording device, the communication device and the recording device uniquely associated with the access from the communication terminal are connected to each other via a network, and program reservation information from the communication terminal is obtained. A program reservation management device that causes the recording device to execute program reservation based on the program reservation information by transferring to the recording device , and the program reservation management device connects the communication terminal and the recording device to each other. After the network connection, the electronic program guide is transferred from the recording device to the communication terminal, and the user is referred to the electronic program guide via the communication terminal. When an instruction for recommending a program to another communication terminal is given by the user in the reservation setting screen generated in response to the user's desired program being selected based on the electronic program guide, the program name of the program , Create an e-mail containing the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) necessary for the channel, broadcast time zone, and recording reservation, and send it to another communication terminal. The other communication terminal receives the e-mail and receives the program The program name, channel, broadcast time zone, and URL are displayed .

As a result, if the communication terminal accesses the program reservation management device, it can be connected to the recording device via the program reservation management device, so that the electronic program guide is transferred from the recording device, from which the user In the reservation setting screen generated when a favorite program is selected, an e-mail containing the program name, channel, broadcast time zone, and URL necessary for recording reservation is created and sent to another communication terminal. Since the program name, channel, broadcast time zone and URL of the program described in the e-mail can be visually confirmed by the user of the other communication terminal transmitted, not only the program name but also the channel, broadcast time After recognizing the band, it is possible to notify the recording device of the URL for executing the program reservation .

Further, in the program reservation management system of the present invention, the communication terminal creates an e-mail containing a comment for recommending the program in addition to the program name, channel, broadcast time zone and URL of the program. By transmitting to the communication terminal, it is possible to easily and intuitively recognize that the program is the content recommended by the individual based on the comment included in the e-mail.

Furthermore, in the program reservation management system of the present invention, another communication terminal is connected to a recording device uniquely associated with the other communication terminal via the program reservation management apparatus, and records a URL as program reservation information. By making the recording device execute program reservation based on the URL by transferring it to the device, it is possible to easily recommend a recommended program without bothering the user with a simple operation of transferring the URL to the recording device. You can make a reservation.

Furthermore, in the program reservation management system of the present invention, when a recording device uniquely associated with another communication terminal performs a program reservation based on a URL, there is an overlap of reservation time zones based on past recording reservation conditions. In this case, by transmitting a predetermined reservation confirmation page to another communication terminal, it is possible to prevent the program reservation from being erroneously executed while the reservation time zones overlap.

According to the present invention, if the communication terminal accesses the program reservation management device, it can be connected to the recording device via the program reservation management device, so that the electronic program guide is transferred from the recording device. In the reservation setting screen that is generated when the user selects a program that the user likes, an e-mail including the program name, channel, broadcast time zone, and URL necessary for recording reservation is created for the program. Since it is possible to visually check the program name, channel, broadcast time zone and URL of the program transmitted to the communication terminal and described in the e-mail to the user of the other communication terminal, not only the program name but also the channel In addition, after recognizing the broadcast time zone, it is possible to notify the recording device of the URL for executing the program reservation .

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(1) Overall Configuration of Recording Reservation Management System In FIG. 1, 1 indicates a recording reservation management system as a program reservation management system of the present invention as a whole. The device 4, the recording device 5 of Mr. B's house, and the recording device 6 of Mr. C's house are connected via the Internet 3, and A's mobile phone 7 and Mr. B are connected to the Internet 3 via the base station 10. Mobile phone 8 and Mr. C's mobile phone 9 are connected.

  Therefore, in the recording reservation management system 1, Mr. A can access his recording device 4 from the mobile phone 7 of Mr. A via the authentication server 2. It is possible to access the recording devices 5 and 6 through the authentication server 3 from the B and C mobile phones 8 and 9.

  For example, when the authentication server 2 receives an access request from the mobile phone 7 of Mr. A, the authentication server 2 recognizes that the connection destination is the recording device 4 of Mr. A's house, and sends the recording device 4 to the recording device 4 from the mobile phone 7. Forward the request.

  Similarly, upon receiving an access request from Mr. B's mobile phone 8, the authentication server 2 recognizes that the connection destination is the recording device 5 at Mr. B's house and Forward the request.

  Further, even when the authentication server 2 accepts an access request from the mobile phone 9 of Mr. C, the authentication server 2 recognizes that the desired connection destination is the recording device 6 at Mr. C's house and Forward the request.

  By the way, when the authentication server 2 accepts a request response from the recording device 4 at Mr. A's house in response to the request of the mobile phone 7, the authentication server 2 recognizes that the response destination is the mobile phone 7 of Mr. A, and The request response is transferred to 7.

  Similarly, when the authentication server 2 receives a request response from the recording device 5 in the house of Mr. B in response to the request of the mobile phone 8, the authentication server 2 recognizes that the response destination is the mobile phone 8 of Mr. B, and The request response is transferred to the telephone 8.

  Further, when the authentication server 2 receives a request response from the recording device 6 at Mr. C's house in response to the request of the mobile phone 9, the authentication server 2 recognizes that the response destination is the mobile phone 9 of Mr. C, and the mobile phone The request response is transferred to 9.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the authentication server 2 has a mobile phone-recording in which mobile phones 7 to 9 and recording devices 4 to 6 are uniquely associated with users A, B, and C, respectively. It has a device correspondence table (not shown), connects Mr. A's mobile phone 7 and Mr. A's home recording device 4 based on the mobile phone-recording device correspondence table, and B's mobile phone 8. And the recording device 5 of Mr. B's house are connected, and the mobile phone 9 of Mr. C and the recording device 6 of Mr. C's house can be connected.

(2) Configuration of Mobile Phone Next, the configuration of the mobile phones 7 to 9 will be described with reference to FIG. However, since all the configurations of the mobile phones 7 to 9 are the same, only the mobile phone 7 will be described here, and the mobile phones 8 and 9 will be omitted for convenience of description.

  The cellular phone 7 is configured to perform overall control by a control unit 11 having a CPU (Central Processing Unit) configuration, and activates a Web browser 14 and a mailer 15 in response to a command from the input operation unit 13. Is displayed on the display unit 12 formed of a liquid crystal display, and data is exchanged with the base station 10 via the communication processing unit 16.

(3) Configuration of Recording Device Next, the configuration of the recording devices 4 to 6 will be described with reference to FIG. However, since the recording devices 4 to 6 have the same configuration, only the recording device 4 will be described here, and the recording devices 5 and 6 will be omitted for convenience of description.

  The recording device 4 is configured to perform overall control by a control unit 21 having a CPU configuration, and a TV program received by a tuner unit 24 is recorded on a hard disk or DVD (Digital) by a recording / playback unit 25 according to control of a program reservation control unit 23. Recorded on a recording medium such as Versatile Disc).

  Further, the recording device 4 acquires EPG information related to a TV program in advance via the Internet 3 or the like by an EPG (Electric Program Guide) acquisition unit 22, and based on this, the program reservation control unit 23 reserves recording of the TV program. It is made to run.

  Note that the control unit 21 is also configured to generate various page screens to be provided to the mobile phone 7, and in order to exchange the various page screens with the web browser 14 of the mobile phone 7, HTTP ( The protocol is converted by the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) conversion unit 26 and then transmitted via the network interface 27.

  The recording device 4 accepts various requests sent from the mobile phone 7 via the authentication server 2 via the network interface 27 and the HTTP conversion unit 26, and sends request responses to the requests to the HTTP conversion unit 26 and the network interface 27. Has been made to reply through.

(4) Configuration of Authentication Server Next, the configuration of the authentication server 2 will be described with reference to FIG. In the authentication server 2, the communication processing unit 32 is connected to the Internet 3, and in response to an access request made from the mobile phones 7 to 9 via the Internet 3 and the communication processing unit 32, the authentication unit 31 of the control unit 30 It is authenticated whether or not the mobile phones 7 to 9 are registered users.

  Specifically, when the authentication unit 31 compares the user ID and password sent from each of the mobile phones 7 to 9 with the user database 33 and determines that the user is an authorized user, the authentication unit 31 follows the mobile phone-recording device correspondence table. The network addresses of the recording devices 4 to 6 uniquely associated with the mobile phones 7 to 9 are read, and the requests of the mobile phones 7 to 9 are transferred to the recording devices 4 to 6 according to the network addresses.

  Conversely, the authentication unit 31 also sends request responses sent from the recording devices 4 to 6 to the recording devices 4 to 6 in response to requests from the mobile phones 7 to 9 according to the mobile phone-recording device correspondence table. The network addresses of the mobile phones 7 to 9 uniquely associated are read, and the request response is transferred to the mobile phones 7 to 9 according to the network addresses.

(5) Flow of cellular phone acquiring EPG information from recording device Next, in the recording reservation management system 1, for example, Mr. A acquires the EPG information of the TV program from the recording device 4 via the cellular phone 7. This will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

  In step SP1, the mobile phone 7 accesses the authentication server 2 via the base station 10 according to the operation of Mr. A on the mobile phone 7, makes a connection request to the recording device 4 of A, and then performs the next step. Move to SP2.

  At this time, in step SP11, the authentication server 2 requests the mobile phone 7 for a user ID and a password, and proceeds to the next step SP12.

  In step SP2, the mobile phone 7 transmits the user ID and password to the authentication server 2 in response to a request from the authentication server 2, and proceeds to the next step SP3.

  At this time, in step SP12, the authentication server 2 matches the user ID and password sent from the mobile phone 7 by the authentication unit 31 with the user database 33, so that the mobile phone 7 is properly registered. If the authentication result is obtained, the process proceeds to the next step SP13.

  In step SP13, the authentication server 2 responds to the connection request from the mobile phone 7 according to the mobile phone-recording device correspondence table, and the network address of the recording device 4 owned by Mr. A is assigned to the network address from the mobile phone 7 to the authentication server 2. By converting to the address, the cellular phone 7 and the recording device 4 are connected, and the process proceeds to the next step SP14.

  In step SP14, the authentication server 2 transfers a request regarding the acquisition request for the top menu page from the mobile phone 7 to the recording device 4, and proceeds to the next step SP15.

  At this time, in step SP21, the recording device 4 returns a top menu page corresponding to the request from the mobile phone 7 by the control unit 21, and proceeds to the next step SP22.

  In step SP15, the authentication server 2 transfers the top menu page to the mobile phone 7 in accordance with the mobile phone-recording device correspondence table. By converting to the address, the recording device 4 and the mobile phone 7 are connected, and the process proceeds to the next step SP16.

  In step SP16, the authentication server 2 transfers the top menu page to the mobile phone 7, and proceeds to the next step SP17. As a result, the control unit 11 of the mobile phone 7 displays the top menu page 100 on the display unit 12 as shown in FIG.

  This top menu page 100 has a plurality of items described as “title list”, “recording reservation”, “reservation candidate list”, “program guide”, “remote control function”, and “program being viewed”. The user A who owns the mobile phone 7 is allowed to select an arbitrary item.

  In step SP3, when the “program guide” item is clicked from the top menu page 100, the mobile phone 7 makes a program guide acquisition request to the authentication server 2 and proceeds to the next step SP4.

  In step SP17, the authentication server 2 has already completed the authentication process for the mobile phone 7 in step SP12. Therefore, the authentication server 2 performs only the address conversion in the same manner as in step SP13 without performing the authentication process, and the program table in the next step SP18. The acquisition request is transferred to the recording device 4, and the process proceeds to the next step SP19.

  At this time, in step SP22, the recording device 4 returns the EPG menu page corresponding to the program guide acquisition request from the mobile phone 7 by the control unit 21 and ends.

  In step SP19, the authentication server 2 performs address conversion again, and after transferring the EPG menu page to the mobile phone 7 as program guide information in the next step SP20, the authentication server 2 ends.

  In step SP4, the cellular phone 7 displays the EPG menu page 101 as program guide information on the display unit 12 as shown in FIG. As a result, Mr. A of the mobile phone 7 refers to the EPG menu page 101. For example, in the MHK general channel, 12: 00-12: 20 “Studio Islands” on December 18, 12: 20-13: 00 “Capital "Broad News", 13: 00-15: 00 "Today's special dish", etc., can be recognized to be broadcast.

(6) Flow of Providing Program Reservation Information from Mr. A to Mr. B Next, the flow from provision of program reservation information of a TV broadcast program from Mr. A's mobile phone 7 to Mr. B's mobile phone 8 will be described with reference to FIG. And it demonstrates using FIG.

  In step SP31, when the mobile phone 7 recognizes that “Studio Islands” is selected as the TV broadcast program desired by Mr. A from the EPG menu page 101 (FIG. 9), the process proceeds to the next step SP32.

  In step SP32, the mobile phone 7 generates a reservation setting screen 102 as shown in FIG. 12 by the Web browser 14, displays it on the display unit 12, and proceeds to the next step SP13.

  On the reservation setting screen 102, the name of the TV broadcast program “Studio Islands” is displayed, and a “reservation confirmation” button 103, a “delete” button 104, and a “keyword” are displayed below the name of the TV broadcast program “Studio Islands”. ”Button 105 and“ Recommend to friends ”button 106 are displayed.

  When Mr. A wants to make a recording reservation for the TV broadcast program of “Studio Islands”, he / she simply clicks the “reservation confirmation” button 103 in the reservation setting screen 102 displayed on the display unit 12 of the mobile phone 7. good.

  As a result, the cellular phone 7 can make a recording reservation of the TV broadcast program “Studio Islands” to the recording device 4 of Mr. A via the authentication server 2 when the “reservation confirmation” button 103 is clicked. Has been made.

  The “delete” button 104 is for deleting a recording reservation, and the “keyword” button 105 is for searching for another TV broadcast program as a keyword.

  In step SP33, the mobile phone 7 determines whether or not the “Recommend to Friend” button 106 is clicked by Mr. A from the reservation setting screen 102. If a negative result is obtained, the “Recommend to Friend” button 106 is displayed. The process waits until is clicked, but when a positive result is obtained, the process proceeds to the next step SP34.

  In step SP34, when the mobile phone 7 recognizes that the “Recommend to friends” button 106 has been clicked, the mailer 15 is automatically started and an edit screen 110 for creating an e-mail as shown in FIG. 13 is displayed. 12 and the process proceeds to the next step SP35.

  In this editing screen 110, Mr. A enters a destination entry item 111 for filling in a transmission destination address of a friend who should recommend a recording reservation for the TV broadcast program “Studio Islands”, a title entry item 112 of this mail, and the TV broadcast. Program information 113 indicating the channel and broadcast time zone of the program “Studio Islands”, and a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) necessary for recording reservation of the TV broadcast program “Studio Islands” acquired from the recording device 4 are displayed.

  In step SP35, when the cellular phone 7 recognizes that the destination address is selected from the address book and described in the destination entry 111 of the edit screen 110, the process proceeds to the next step SP36.

  In step SP36, when the mobile phone 7 recognizes that a comment such as “This program is recommended” is input and added between the title entry 112 and the program information 113 by Mr. A, the following is performed. In step SP37, the contents of the editing screen 110 are transmitted as program reservation information by e-mail to the mobile phone 8 of Mr. B via the base station 10, and the process ends.

  Thus, in step SP41, Mr. B's mobile phone 8 receives the e-mail transmitted from Mr. A's mobile phone 7 via the base station 10, moves to the next step SP42, and the contents of the e-mail (program reservation) Information) is displayed on the display unit 12 as a reception screen 120 as shown in FIG. 14, and the process is terminated.

  This reception screen 120 is the same as the contents of the program reservation information on the editing screen 110 of the mobile phone 7, “TV program recommended” as the title, “This program is recommended” as the comment, and the program information as the program information. A channel and a broadcast time zone of the TV broadcast program “Studio Archipelago” are displayed, and below that, a URL necessary for recording reservation of the TV broadcast program “Studio Archipelago” is displayed.

  The reception screen 120 needs to be scroll-displayed in order to grasp the entire contents from the relationship of the screen size, but is not necessarily scroll-displayed if the communication terminal has a large screen size of the display unit 12.

  By referring to the reception screen 120, Mr. B of the mobile phone 8 can recognize what TV broadcast program is recommended for recording reservation from Mr. A, and record based on the program reservation information. It is also possible to know the TV broadcast program channel and broadcast time zone recommended for reservation.

(7) Flow in which Mr. B uses the program reservation information to make a reservation for recording a TV broadcast program in his own recording device Next, Mr. B uses the program reservation information to transmit a TV from his mobile phone 8 to his recording device 5. The flow up to the recording reservation of a broadcast program will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In step SP51, the mobile phone 8 determines whether or not the URL is clicked from the reception screen 120 (FIG. 14) as the program reservation information necessary for recording reservation of the TV broadcast program “Studio Islands”. If it is obtained, it waits until the URL is clicked, and if a positive result is obtained, the process proceeds to the next step SP52.

  In step SP52, the mobile phone 8 makes a recording reservation request by transmitting the URL to the authentication server 2 via the base station 10 in response to the URL being clicked from the reception screen 120. Next step Move to SP53.

  At this time, in step SP61, the authentication server 2 requests the mobile phone 7 for a user ID and a password, and proceeds to the next step SP62.

  In step SP53, the mobile phone 7 transmits the user ID and password to the authentication server 2 in response to a request from the authentication server 2, and proceeds to the next step SP54.

  At this time, in step SP62, the authentication server 2 matches the user ID and password sent from the mobile phone 8 by the authentication unit 31 with the user database 33, so that the mobile phone 8 is properly registered. If the authentication result is obtained, the process proceeds to the next step SP63.

  In step SP63, the authentication server 2 responds to the recording reservation request from the mobile phone 8 according to the mobile phone-recording device correspondence table, and the network device addressed to the authentication server 2 from the mobile phone 8 is assigned to the recording device 5 owned by Mr. B. By converting to the network address, Mr. B's mobile phone 8 and Mr. B's recording device 5 are connected, and the process proceeds to the next step SP64.

  In step SP64, the authentication server 2 transfers the URL from the mobile phone 8 to the recording device 5, and proceeds to the next step SP65.

  At this time, in step SP71, the recording device 5 accesses the predetermined connection destination based on the URL from the mobile phone 8 by the control unit 21, recognizes the reservation time zone of the recording reservation based on the URL, and then proceeds to the next step SP72. Then, it is determined whether or not the reservation time zones overlap by comparing the reservation time zone of the recording reservation based on the URL and the reservation status of the recording reservation made previously.

  If a negative result is obtained here, this means that the TV broadcast program recommended by Mr. A is not used because the reservation time zone of the recording reservation based on the URL does not overlap with the reservation time zone of the recording reservation made previously. The recording apparatus 5 moves to the next step SP76 and returns a reservation page 130 as shown in FIG. 17 to the mobile phone 8 at the next step SP74. Move on.

  On this reservation page 130, the text “Do you want to make a reservation?” That asks you to make a reservation, the channel of the broadcasting station, the broadcast time zone, and the title of the TV broadcast program are displayed, and the “OK” button to confirm the reservation 131 is displayed.

  On the other hand, if an affirmative result is obtained in step SP72, this indicates that the reservation time zone of the recording reservation based on the URL overlaps with the reservation time zone of the recording reservation made previously, At this time, the recording device 5 moves to the next step SP73, transmits a reservation confirmation page 140 as shown in FIG. 18 to the mobile phone 8, and moves to the next step SP74.

  This reservation confirmation page 140 asks if there are overlapping reservations and whether or not to delete and register a new reservation. "The following recording reservations overlap. Do you want to delete these and register a new reservation?" ? ", The channel of the broadcasting station that has already been reserved, the broadcasting time zone, and the title" Yume / Music Hall "of the TV broadcast program are displayed, and the TV broadcast program" Yume / Music Hall "is recorded. A “delete and reserve” button 141 for deleting the reservation and newly making a reservation and a “return” button 142 for canceling the recording reservation are displayed.

  At this time, in step SP65, the authentication server 2 performs address conversion in order to transmit the reservation page 130 or reservation confirmation page 140 transmitted from the recording device 5 to the mobile phone 8, and proceeds to the next step SP66 to move to the reservation page 130. Alternatively, the reservation confirmation page 140 is transferred to the mobile phone 8, and the process proceeds to the next step SP67.

  Thereby, in step SP54, the mobile phone 8 receives the reservation page 130 or the reservation confirmation page 140 and displays it on the display unit 12, and then, in the reservation page 130 or the reservation confirmation page 140, the “OK” button 131 or “erase” Then, it is determined whether or not the “Reserve” button 141 has been selected and clicked. If a negative result is obtained, the process ends. If an affirmative result is obtained, a recording reservation request is made to the recording device 5 in step SP55. Then, the process proceeds to the next step SP56.

  At this time, in step SP67, the authentication server 2 has already completed the authentication process for the mobile phone 8 in step SP62. Therefore, the authentication server 2 performs only the address conversion in the same manner as in step SP63 without performing the authentication process, and in the next step SP68. The recording reservation request is transferred to the recording device 5, and the process proceeds to the next step SP69.

  Thus, in step SP74, the recording device 5 accesses the connection destination based on the URL transferred from the mobile phone 8 by the program reservation control unit 23 to execute the recording reservation process, and moves to the next step SP75 to make the recording reservation. After completing the reservation completion notification to the effect that the mobile phone 8 is completed, the process ends.

  At this time, in step SP69, the authentication server 2 performs address conversion in the same manner as in step SP65, and after transferring the reservation completion notice to the mobile phone 8 in the next step SP70, the authentication server 2 ends.

  As a result, in step SP56, the cellular phone 8 displays the reservation completion notice transferred from the authentication server 2 on the display unit 12 and ends. As a result, the cellular phone 8 can make Mr. B visually confirm that the recording reservation of the TV broadcast program recommended by Mr. A has been executed by the recording device 5 of Mr. B.

(8) Operation and Effect In the above-described configuration, in the recording reservation management system 1, when Mr. A acquires EPG information via the mobile phone 7, the user first accesses the authentication server 2 and passes through the authentication server 2. It is connected to its own recording device 4.

  Subsequently, Mr. A selects the “program guide” item from the top menu page 100 displayed on the display unit 12 of the mobile phone 7 to obtain the EPG menu page 101, and Mr. A recommends it to Mr. B. If there is a TV broadcast program that is intended to be transmitted, the program reservation information created using the editing screen 110 (FIG. 13) need only be transmitted to Mr. B's mobile phone 8 via the base station 10 by e-mail.

  In the mobile phone 8 that has received this e-mail, Mr. B simply clicks the URL in the program reservation information displayed on the reception screen 120 (FIG. 14), and the mobile phone 8 automatically passes through the authentication server 2. And the URL is transferred to the recording device 5 via the authentication server 2.

  As a result, the recording device 5 accesses the connection destination based on the URL sent via the authentication server 2, automatically executes the recording reservation of the TV broadcast program recommended by Mr. A, and then authenticates the recording reservation completion notification. The message is transmitted to Mr. B's mobile phone 8 via the server 2.

  In this way, Mr. A only needs to transmit the program reservation information of the TV broadcast program recommended for Mr. B from the mobile phone 7 to the mobile phone 8 of Mr. B as an e-mail.

  On the other hand, as long as Mr. B transmits the program reservation information received from Mr. A's mobile phone 7 to the authentication server 2 with the mobile phone 8, the authentication server 2 then sends the program reservation information to Mr. B's recording device 5. The recording device 5 automatically transfers the recording device 5 to the recording destination by accessing the connection destination based on the URL of the program reservation information.

  That is, in the recording reservation management system 1, it is not necessary for both Mr. A and Mr. B to directly access the recording device 4 or 5 of the other party, or to know the network address of the other recording device 4 or 5, and Mr. A. Can simply send the program reservation information from the mobile phone 7 to the mobile phone 8 as an e-mail, so that it is not necessary to notify the network address of the recording device 4 or 5, and the address information important to the user is surely leaked. Therefore, it is possible to easily execute a recording reservation while maintaining confidentiality.

  Further, in the recording reservation management system 1, only general information such as a broadcasting station channel, a broadcast time zone, a TV broadcast program title and a URL as program reservation information is transmitted from Mr. A's mobile phone 7 by e-mail. Since it only needs to transmit to the telephone 8, it is very versatile.

  Further, in the recording reservation management system 1, program reservation information is provided individually and directly from Mr. A's mobile phone 7 to Mr. B's mobile phone 8, so that the program information of the TV broadcast program can be provided as in the past. The program information server for providing to the mobile phones 7 to 9 is not necessary, and the configuration of the entire system can be simplified correspondingly.

  Conventionally, anyone can obtain the program information desired by the user as long as the program information server is accessed. However, in the recording reservation management system 1, Mr. B actively acquires the program information. The program reservation information desired by Mr. B can be acquired simply by waiting for the provision of program reservation information from Mr. A.

  According to the above configuration, in the recording reservation management system 1, the mobile phone-recording in which the authentication server 2 is one-to-one associated with the mobile phones 7-9 and the recording devices 4-6, which are connected to each other via the network. A device correspondence table is provided, and the mobile phones 7 to 9 and the recording devices 4 to 6 are connected to each other in accordance with the mobile phone-recording device correspondence table to correspond to program reservation information sent from the mobile phones 7 to 9. By recording the program reservation information by transferring it to the recording device 4-6, the program reservation information is automatically transmitted to the recording device 4-6 simply by transmitting the program reservation information from the mobile phone 7-9 to the authentication server 2. Can be executed.

(9) Other Embodiments In the above-described embodiment, the program reservation information of the TV broadcast program is transmitted from Mr. A's mobile phone 7 to Mr. B's mobile phone 8 by e-mail. Although the present invention is not limited to this, the program reservation information of the TV broadcast program is transmitted from Mr. B's mobile phone 8 to Mr. A's mobile phone 7 by e-mail, or from Mr. A's mobile phone 7. You may make it transmit the program reservation information of a TV broadcast program to E-mail simultaneously to the mobile telephone 8 of Mr. B and the mobile telephone 9 of Mr. C.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the program reservation information of the TV broadcast program is transmitted by e-mail from Mr. A's mobile phone 7 to Mr. B's mobile phone 8 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the program reservation information of TV broadcast programs may be transmitted all at once from a company or the like to mobile phones 7 to 9 of Mr. A, Mr. B, and Mr. C like so-called mail magazines. .

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the case where a TV broadcast program is reserved for recording using recording devices 4 to 6 such as a hard disk recorder as a recording device has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the disk It is also possible to make a program reservation for a radio program using a recording device that records audio data on a tape-like recording medium or a tape-like recording medium.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the cellular phones 7 to 9 are used as the communication terminals of the recording reservation management system 1 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any terminal having a communication function may be used. Various other communication terminals such as a mobile personal computer and a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) may be used.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the EPG acquisition unit 22 of the recording device 4 acquires the recording reservation information regarding the TV broadcast program in advance via the Internet 3 with the mobile phone 7 and makes the recording reservation based on this information. As described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and the program information related to the TV program may be received by the tuner unit 24 and a recording reservation may be made based on the program information.

  The program reservation management apparatus according to the present invention can be applied to, for example, an application in which program reservation information is mutually exchanged between a plurality of recording devices and a plurality of communication terminals connected to each other via a network to reserve a program. it can.

It is a basic diagram which shows the whole structure of the video recording reservation management system of this invention. It is a basic diagram with which it uses for description of distribution of the connection destination by an authentication server. It is a rough block diagram which shows the structure of a mobile telephone. It is a rough-line block diagram which shows the structure of a video recording apparatus. It is a basic block diagram which shows the structure of an authentication server. It is an approximate line figure used for explanation of a flow in which a mobile phone acquires EPG information from a recording device. It is a sequence chart which shows an EPG information acquisition process sequence. It is a basic diagram which shows a top menu page. It is a basic diagram which shows an EPG menu page. It is a basic diagram with which it uses for description of the flow which provides program reservation information from Mr. A to Mr. B. It is a sequence chart which shows the notification process sequence of program reservation information. It is a basic diagram which shows a reservation setting screen. It is a basic diagram which shows an edit screen. It is a basic diagram which shows a reception screen. It is a basic diagram with which B uses for description of the flow which carries out a recording reservation to recording equipment using program reservation information. It is a sequence chart which shows a video recording reservation process sequence. It is a basic diagram which shows a reservation page. It is a basic diagram which shows a reservation confirmation page.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Recording reservation management system, 2 ... Authentication server, 3 ... Network, 4-6 ... Recording equipment, 7-9 ... Mobile phone, 10 ... Base station, 11, 21, 30 ... Control part , 12 ... Display section, 14 ... Web browser, 15 ... Mailer, 16, 32 ... Communication processing section, 22 ... EPG acquisition section, 23 ... Program reservation control section, 24 ... Tuner section, 25 ... Recording / playback unit, 26... HTTP conversion unit, 27... Network interface, 31... Authentication unit, 33.

Claims (4)

Multiple communication terminals,
A plurality of recording devices connected to each other via a network to the plurality of communication terminals;
Another network connecting the recording device uniquely associated with the communication terminal for access from the communication terminal by using a table in which the plurality of communication terminals and the plurality of recording apparatuses have been uniquely correlated A program reservation management device for causing the recording device to execute program reservation based on the program reservation information by transferring program reservation information from the communication terminal to the recording device ,
The program reservation management device
After the communication terminal and the recording device are connected to each other via a network, the electronic program guide is transferred from the recording device to the communication terminal, and the user is referred to the electronic program guide via the communication terminal,
The communication terminal gives an instruction for recommending the program to other communication terminals in the reservation setting screen generated in response to the user's desired program being selected based on the electronic program guide. And create an e-mail containing the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) necessary for the program name, channel, broadcast time zone and recording reservation of the program and send it to another communication terminal,
The other communication terminal receives the e-mail and displays the program name, channel, broadcast time zone, and URL of the program.
Ban set reservation management systems. The communication terminal creates the e-mail including a comment for recommending the program in addition to the program name, channel, broadcast time zone, and URL of the program, and transmits the e-mail to the other communication terminal. Do
Program reservation management system according to 請 Motomeko 1. The other communication terminal is connected to the recording device uniquely associated with the other communication terminal via the program reservation management device, and transfers the URL as the program reservation information to the recording device. Causes the recording device to execute program reservation based on the URL
Program reservation management system according to 請 Motomeko 2. When the recording device uniquely associated with the other communication terminal makes a program reservation based on the URL, and there is an overlap of reservation time zones based on the past recording reservation situation, the recording device Send a predetermined reservation confirmation page to
Program reservation management system according to 請 Motomeko 3.

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